Jesse Owens - 1936 Berlin Olympics

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Jesse Owens reported being warmly welcomed by ordinary Germans during his time at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and he felt that he was ignored by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after his triumphs.

Owens recalled in his autobiography and in interviews that the German crowds enthusiastically cheered for him and sought autographs, and that he generally received more public attention and appreciation in Berlin than he did in the United States. Owens described the German people’s reception as friendly, stating, “The German people were wonderful. They had thousands to greet us… They cheered and cheered, and they were calling out your name…”. While Nazi ideologies were racial and discriminatory, the atmosphere in the stadium and the public reception Owens received were contradictorily positive.

The longstanding story that Adolf Hitler snubbed Owens is complicated. Initially, Hitler shook hands only with German athletes on the first day of the games. After being told by Olympic officials that he must greet every medallist or none at all, Hitler opted for the latter, skipping all further congratulatory gestures to any non-German athletes. Owens later stated both that he was not personally snubbed by Hitler and, in another retelling, that he and Hitler exchanged waves.

After the Olympics, Owens remarked publicly that he received no recognition from President Roosevelt, who did not invite him (or any of the black U.S. Olympians) to the White House, nor did he send a telegram of congratulations. Only white athletes from the American Olympic team were hosted at the White House that year, underscoring racial discrimination in the U.S. at the time.

Jesse Owens’s own accounts, supported by multiple historians and references, confirm that he felt more welcomed in Berlin than in the racially segregated United States, with President Roosevelt failing to publicly acknowledge his achievements.

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